The Horrid Aftermath
by Traitor of All Traitors
Summary: What if the first battle with Sachiel, the Third Angel/Angel of Water ended more negatively? What if, due to factors unanticipated, the boy everyone forced to be a reluctant hero was reduced to a casualty? And if medical technology was available to save his life, drastic measures had to be taken to ensure his survival because a madman could care less? Read and review. In-progress.
1. Impact Disaster

Creation began on 04-29-14

Creation ended on 06-22-14

Neon Genesis Evangelion

The Horrid Aftermath: Impact Disaster

A/N: Mostly manga-based, and for a reason.

"…It's gonna self-destruct!" Misato gasped, watching on the screens as the Third Angel wrapped itself around Unit-01 and its core glowed brightly.

BOOM! The Angel exploded and enveloped the entire portion of Tokyo-3 in light as the fire took the shape of a large cross.

"Where's…the Eva?" Misato questioned, and, as the light dimmed on the screens, her answer came. "Oh, dear God."

Evangelion Unit-01 was on the ground, scorched, mangled and its head and neck assembly disconnected from its body. Parts of the armor were melted down to the layers of artificial muscle and bone underneath, and the armor surrounding the face of the unit was destroyed, revealing a brownish, hornless creature's face beneath the armored being.

"What about Shinji?" She asked the technicians, wondering if the plug was ejected or if the boy had survived the explosion.

"The Entry Plug…didn't eject," one of the men responded.

"Vital signs have been confirmed," one of the women added, sadly, "but only from the Eva. Pilot's vitals are unknown."

"Dispatch an emergency crew to the Eva," went Gendo Ikari to the command bridge.

"Ikari," went Kozo Fuyutsuki to the commander, "this…was too extreme."

-x-

Nothing was able to connect to him after the Angel grabbed his arm and snapped it in half, following with the severe eye trauma. He was surrounded by a fog of heavy rain in the darkness. There was some noise, but his hearing couldn't tell him what it was, only that there was noise around him in the fog.

"…Over here…"

"…My God…"

"…Can't…"

"…Supposed to be…"

"…Still breathing…"

"…Contact…"

Voices. Voices of people he hadn't seen or spoken with. He tried to speak up, but he heard nothing from his mouth. Then, he tried to raise his left arm, but he felt as though nothing had happened when he did that, either. All he could tell was that…in some strange way…something just wasn't right. Something wasn't right, anymore.

-x-

"…What sort of organization are you running here, Ikari?!" One of the generals from earlier in the operation against the Third Angel shouted at Gendo. "Too much blood has already been spilled. Those soldiers that gave their lives to protect this country knew what they were up against when they took the orders to face that thing out there, but this boy knew barely anything ahead of time!"

"And we're to just accept that you chose him to fight the Angel when the N² assault failed?" Another general questioned. "There were lines to tread cautiously, Ikari…and you crossed one too many."

But Gendo ignored their complaints. So long as the Angel was defeated, there was nothing else that needed to be said. While the cost of repairs to Unit-01 and the bodies damaged by the Angel's self-destruction would cost as much as a small country, it would be a necessity in the ongoing feud with the Angels yet to come…and NERV would require Unit-01 more than anything. More than anyone.

-x-

"Akagi-Sempai?" Maya Ibuki greeted the faux-blond Ritsuko Akagi, wandering down the NERV trauma unit, looking into the room that housed their most recent patient…and their sole visitor for the time being. "How long has Captain Katsuragi been in there?"

Ritsuko sighed, "She hasn't left ever since he was brought in. He's being kept sedated until we can find the proper dosage of painkiller for him."

"No amount of painkillers will help him recover from what had befallen him, Sempai," Maya informed her. "And he's on life support. It's anyone's guess how long he has left."

-x-

"…Your son suffered third and fourth-degree burns to over eighty percent of his body," a man informed Gendo and Fuyutsuki the severity of Shinji's injuries as a result of the explosion. "His right arm was damaged to the point of amputation, along with his legs. In addition, he may suffer from partial blindness and deafness to his eyes and ears. If he survives from his medical-induced coma, he will be paralyzed from the waist down…and confined to a wheelchair until he dies from organ failure or some other casualty caused by this incident."

Both heads of NERV were presented with the medical photos of Shinji's injuries and the statistics provided from the other injuries he was mentioned to have. While Gendo didn't show any reaction to the awful pictures, Fuyutsuki grimaced at the boy's severe misfortune. He, initially, had no worries about Shinji being inside the Eva, but after the explosion and its aftermath, he started to doubt everything he believed in, including people's beliefs. The elder saw this boy…and now he was seeing what was left of him that was barely hanging on.

"What are you suggesting?" Fuyutsuki asked him.

"Medical technology has progressed to the point where we can do what was once science fiction," the man expressed. "We put him through extensive, cybernetic and nanotech reconstruction and let nature take its course."

"You mean, convert him," Gendo clarified.

"Yes," the man answered.

"You mean, this might save him, but what would it really mean?" Fuyutsuki asked him. "What kind of life will he have?"

-x-

"…What's going on?" Makoto Hyuga asked Misato, visiting Shinji in his room, seeing him in the devastating state his body was in.

"The commander's decision is what's going on," Misato responded in a cold tone. "There's this cyberneticist that says a series of procedures can save Shinji, but needs consent from a parent or guardian, which nobody in the Ikari family seems to be concerned about giving."

"The commander doesn't think heroic measures should be taken? But that's insane! His son defeated the Angel and got hurt because of it! What about his other relatives?"

"I tried getting in contact with his uncle, but he blew me off completely."

"Maybe…Shinji doesn't have anyone."

Misato looked down at Shinji's bandaged head and face, took hold of his only hand, his only limb left mobile while the rest had been removed due to extensive damage done to them, and couldn't help but pray that his end came quickly and painlessly."

-x-

"…How was Rei today?" Ritsuko asked Gendo, standing in front of the ruins of the damaged facility that housed Unit-00 for the time being, a plug with a cross-shaped end sticking out of its back. "Did you see her at the hospital?"

"She can work again in thirty days," he answered her, "by that time, we'll be ready to reactivate Unit-00 and Unit-01 will be repaired."

"And what of the boy?"

But Gendo didn't answer her on the subject of his son. It wasn't a hidden truth that he cared very little about Shinji, but wouldn't give consent to have heroic measures performed to save him. Some of the agency believed that, if need be, Gendo would keep his son on life-support until he decided to pull the plug on him.

-x-

At his desk, Kozo Fuyutsuki looked at a small photograph of Yui and Shinji from the time he was small. The boy had this innocent smile, like there wasn't anything wrong in his little world. And now, years later to the present, he couldn't recognize the little boy that lost his mother and was abandoned by his father, the very same father that sent for him to fight an enemy he knew nothing about, suffered greatly because something awful went wrong, and wouldn't lift a finger to save him. He even tried to contact the uncle, only to be turned away.

It was like Shinji was reduced to being a throwaway, some sort of gambit NERV took…only to see that, while they were able to survive, they were treating their little hero like he was an unappreciated commodity or disposable asset. But that wasn't true. It shouldn't be true.

"_You mean, this might save him, but what would it really mean?" _He recalled himself asking the cyberneticist on his suggestion on how to save Shinji. _"What kind of life will he have?"_

"_He would have his mobility restored," _the cyberneticist had explained the possibilities, _"along with complete control over his tolerance to pain, auditory and hearing capabilities repaired and enhanced. He would be__…__better than he had been__…__better than he is right now."_

Sighing, he picked up a phone and dialed a number, thinking of a recent dream he had before he saw Shinji return to the city. In his dream, his nightmare, Shinji died, along with hundreds of people…and this little, ebony-haired girl with a round tummy standing in front of him, yelling at him over the death of the boy, questioning why the people hurt him the way they had, why they let him suffer up to his final breath.

_I'm going to go to Hell for this,_ he thought.

-x-

Misato felt stupid right now, bringing flowers to the boy that had lost all but one of his limbs and probably wouldn't be able to smell anything, but this helped to remind her that somebody at least gave a damn about his well-being. She stepped into his room, but dropped the bouquet at the sight in front of her. Instead of seeing Shinji hooked to life-support and heart-monitoring equipment, she saw an empty bed. There was nothing to indicate that the boy had ever been here.

"Captain Katsuragi?" She turned around to face a male nurse. "What are you doing here?"

"The Third Child," she said, pointing to the empty bed. "He was here yesterday. Where is he now?"

"You mean, you weren't informed?" The nurse asked her.

"Informed? About what?" She questioned.

-x-

"…I'm surprised that Commander Ikari consented to having his son transferred to Medical Angel's Tokyo-3 facility," a female technician said to a male technician.

"Except there's a rumor going around that he didn't consent," the man told her.

"If he didn't consent, then why were there some Medical Angel people by late in the night picking up the Third Child?" Another male technician questioned.

As the rumor mill expanded a bit across the Geo-Front, Gendo was furious inside his office, looking at the copy of the consent form Medical Angel's representative presented him in order to get Shinji the cybernetic and medical aid that would restore him…with his signature written at the bottom…but not in his handwriting. This meant that the signature had been forged, which should've nullified any form of agreement, but he was waiting on a phone call to return from Medical Angel's Tokyo-3 facility located outside the city where the Third Child was taken to late in the night.

Ring-ring-ring! His phone finally went off, and he picked up.

"This Medical Angel's Tokyo-3 facility, responding to a call from Gendo Ikari," came a woman's voice over the phone.

"This is Gendo Ikari," he responded.

"Yes, you had complained about a forged signature of yours on a consent form you were given a few days ago?"

"That's right."

"I'm sorry, sir, but the man that handed the form in seemed desperate to save your son, who would've lived for only a few days if he didn't get the help he needed from Medical Angel. The gentleman was even prepared to pay for his medical needs until he was informed that the company would take care of the costs in his recovery and rehabilitation."

"And who was this gentleman?"

"I'm afraid I can't give out that information. I can't disclose the confidentiality of those that visit or are employed at Medical Angel. If you wish to speak with the head or a representative of Medical Angel, please schedule an appointment and you will be spoken with in due time. Good day to you."

The woman hung up before Gendo could complain further that the company was taking this forged signature business with very little concern.

"Dammit!" He yelled. _Who the Hell could've done this?!_

-x-

"But who would want to forge Commander Ikari's signature on a consent form?" Misato asked Ritsuko, who was using the MAGI to trace the handwriting of the culprit behind the signature on the orders of Gendo.

"Since the consent form was within NERV HQ, we can narrow down the suspects to everyone with access to the Geo-Front," Ritsuko responded, and the MAGI supercomputer system came up with possible suspects for the signature. "Oh, great."

"What?"

"With Casper not helping, the list of suspects in the forged signature has been isolated to three-hundred-seventy-seven people with handwriting similar to Commander Ikari's."

The faux-blond showed her a list of the suspects, displeasing her to see that her name was on the list, among most of the women with similar handwriting to Gendo Ikari. Another few names to pop up were Maya Ibuki, Makoto Hyuga, Shigeru Aoba, Motoko Mikagi, Sakura Yami, and even Fuma Myoga. But there was very little chance of any of them being the culprit.

"What about a motive?" Misato asked Ritsuko. "There's always a motive."

"Getting the Third Child medical aid is a motive, since it was becoming common knowledge that his father hadn't signed the consent form. Another motive is taking away the commander's right to consent, removing whatever power he had over his son's current state."

"Wait a minute. The consent form, was it still in his office?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Not many people have access to his office. Who has access to his office?"

"Only Three people: You, myself…and Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki."

"The Sub-Commander? Could he have done it?"

"I wouldn't put it below him, but why would he do something like this to Commander Ikari?"

-x-

Fuyutsuki knew he was going to pay dearly for this, but it was a risk he was willing to take, just as he stood outside the Medical Angel Tokyo-3 facility Shinji had been transferred to. He had called the medical team assigned to Shinji and asked how progress was going in the goal to help him. The response was that he should come see for himself, of course. So, he showed up, but got cold feet.

"Lord, forgive me," he sighed, and stepped into the building.

He walked up to the front desk and saw the receptionist, a young woman with blue hair and glasses.

"Hello, may I help you?" She greeted him.

"Uh, yes, I'm Kozo Fuyutsuki, here to see the medical team in charge of Shinji Ikari," he explained his visit here.

"Wait one moment," she told him and then checked the building's schedule for visitors. "Oh, yes, they're expecting you. Take the elevator to the seventh floor and look for Room 74-MRC."

"Thank you," he praised her and left to the elevator for the seventh floor.

-x-

"So, you suspect that Fuyutsuki was behind this forged signature?" Gendo asked Ritsuko and Misato, who relayed their discovery.

"He's the only other individual with access to this room," Ritsuko explained, "and he hasn't been seen since the previous day. It's the only explanation."

If Gendo was furious by this revelation, he put on a good mask to hide it.

-x-

"…The nanomachines have already repaired his blood circulation and the nerve endings to his damaged eye have adapted to the bionic replacement," a medical technician explained to Fuyutsuki, showing him holographics of the progress they were making to Shinji's maimed state. "He's been prepped for surgery to affix the bionic arm and legs to his body. We've been keeping him sedated to alleviate the degree of pain he might go through, but other than what I've explained to you, he's expected to make a full recovery once he awakens."

The first holograms showed tiny machines working around the damaged areas of the body, while the secondary holograms showed a detailed way of how the bionic limbs were to be attached to the stumps where the original ones once resided.

"Uh, will he be able to move his arms and legs like before?" He asked the young man, curious as to how the cybernetic limbs would be just like the original ones.

"With time and therapy, he can wiggle his toes like a child and flex his fingers like before," the technician expressed. "Would you like to see him before he goes to have his new limbs attached?"

"Yes, please," he told him.

The technician led him to an operating theater's observatory environment, where the patient in question was being wheeled in for his major surgery. The patient, Shinji Ikari, looked paler than he had the day he arrived to the city, his face looking a little better from the aftermath, with the scarring healed up completely. But the rest of his body, a torso with just one hand, looked like it had been recently fitted with mechanical fixtures that were incomplete, but the flesh around them looked staunched and unhealed after being treated.

As the surgeons began operating on the boy, they started with a cybernetic right arm that looked real enough to be an actual limb.

"Is that a cybernetic arm?" Fuyutsuki asked.

"Yeah," the technician responded. "Through the months of trial and error, we can actually create artificial limbs that rarely need to be surgically replaced. Medical Angel has managed to create a bio-metal that can simulate living cells within a person."

"Medical Angel had also mentioned a decrease in metal toxicity?"

"Oh, yes. It's a necessity. Prolonged exposure to heavy metals can hinder the immune system and compromise the individual's life. Detoxifying metals before infusing them into bio-metals reduces the risks involved in surgeries."

As the operation continued, Fuyutsuki noticed that Shinji's eyelids were fluttering, indicating that he was dreaming.

_Whatever he's dreaming of in there,_ he thought, _I hope it's peaceful._

"…When people become desperate to save the life of another person they barely know," they turned around and saw a man far older than Fuyutsuki himself was, walking in the room with a cane, "they'll do whatever it takes to save them, knowing that might be consequences to pay for later on."

"I'm sorry, and you are?" Fuyutsuki questioned him.

"Masamune," the elder introduced himself. "Masamune Kusanagi. I represent Medical Angel's Tokyo-3 branch. You must be Kozo Fuyutsuki, the man responsible for the young Ikari getting the medical attention he needs."

Fuyutsuki sighed and bowed his head.

"I apologize if my carelessness for concern over him has caused your company any trouble," he expressed, being sincere.

"Trouble's relative," Masamune responded, approaching the windows and looking down at the young boy that was being helped. "Whether a signature's real or forged, if an innocent life needs medical aid beyond what's available in a local hospital, we do what we can to help them see old age. At least he has somebody that cares enough to do what you did for him."

Fuyutsuki looked back down at the boy again, seeing that the surgeons were now attempting to attach his new left leg to his body.

"I thank you for all that you've done for him," he told the elder.

To be continued…

A/N: After careful consideration, I'll have to break this story into separate chapters. As some of you have probably read _My Special Keeper _(or looked at _The One_), you're aware of the whole multiverse concept. How you can exist in one universe as you are currently, and how you exist in another universe, like where you live, where you work, who you're friends with, who you're married to, etc. I hope to have some of the characters I've created in previous stories be encountered in this one someday, but for now, I'll leave it until I get back to it. Do look at it and let me know what you think of it. Maybe you can figure out what inspired it.


	2. Reawakening

Creation began on 06-25-14

Creation ended on 07-05-14

Neon Genesis Evangelion

The Horrid Aftermath: Reawakening

For the first time in a long time, Shinji felt like he could really live. He was surrounded by kind people, good people, people that really cared about his well-being, even though it seemed like he had never really met them before. There was some festival in a small town built around a tall mountain that was to celebrate and embrace the quality of luck in all its forms, and some of the people he saw on the sidewalks were showing off abilities that he had only seen on television. But what made him relish in this feeling of acceptance was being in the company of a young girl that wouldn't let go of his hand.

"Are you enjoying yourself, Shinji?" She asked him.

"Yes," he answered back. "Yes, I am."

"That's good."

Walking past a elderly couple playing with some young children by levitating large, stone slabs off the ground, they sat by a small fountain and the the young girl, around the age of seven or eight, shook her head, letting her long, ebony hair dance in the air beside him.

Shinji felt like this was all too good to be true, like this was nothing more than a dream meant to deceive his heart-desiring wish for love and acceptance. But the blue eyes of this girl he had never met before…and on some unusual level, he felt like he had seen her before…had him convinced that this couldn't be a dream. That this all couldn't be a deception to his heart.

"One life we live…and one life we dream," the girl had said to him.

"These are two lives we have," he agreed with her words, but then felt he needed to say something that was unlike anything he had ever thought of saying before. "Can I stay here? I mean…can I stay here…with all of you?"

The girl turned her upper body to face him, took both his hands into hers and replied, "We wish you could…but you can't. This life, this happiness…as much as you crave it…with all that you are…it belongs to another that needed it, too. Do you remember what Solomon said that you thought was unusual in resolving a conflict?"

"He had ordered a sword be brought to him," he told her, "and that a child be divided into two children. One half went to one parent and the other half to the other parent. Why?"

"Because you are a soul that has been divided too many times. You have wanted and needed something more in your life, but have often been denied it. We don't want you to go back to where you need to go back to, but you need to go back there. You…need to stop the nightmare that others are trying to unleash upon those around you. You…have to be the hero of your miserable life…and find your happiness in it with people that will love and accept you as you are…just as we love and accept you as you are."

"But…it hurts being there," he told her, as tears started falling from his eyes. "He sent for me only to use me. He doesn't love me or want me in his life. I don't want to suffer any more heartache like being left alone again."

She got up and hugged him closely.

"You'll never be alone, Shinji," she assured him. "Out there, maybe. But as long as you keep alive the ones you love and that love you back…in your heart and your soul…you'll never be alone. Okay? Keep us alive in your heart and soul."

He hugged her back and took her words serious.

RING! The sound of a clock tower came by, announcing the end of the last hour of the day…and the beginning of the new day. RING!

"You have to go now," she told Shinji, letting him go.

"Wait," he begged her. "I don't know your name, and it would mean a lot to me if you told me who you are…and why you mean a lot to me."

She tilted her head to her right and gave him a small smile.

"You'll have to wait until the next time we meet," she told him, and then kissed him on his lips. "You'll find me again. I'll always be here for you."

RING! The clock bells rang louder than they had previously, and Shinji's perception began to dim.

"We'll find each other again," the girl's voice, now fading away, told him. "You must wake up now."

As she disappeared from his view, so did the fountain, the small buildings…and the people. Even the ringing of the clock tower bells began to fade out, replaced by a strange sound he had heard somewhere before. It sounded like…beeping.

"…Have his medicates been suspended?" He soon heard a man's voice.

"Yes, sir," a woman's voice followed. "All pain medication, including his intravenous injections, muscle relaxants and antibiotics have been suspended."

"Let's see if he'll wake up." The man's voice went again.

A blinding light flashed into Shinji's eyes as he opened them, but then it died as his vision corrected itself to perceive his surroundings.

-x-

Forty-eight hours of cybernetic reconstruction and an additional twenty-four hours of recuperation, and the maimed child that was Shinji Ikari was looking like he'd never been in a serious accident before. Within the large room where he was being monitored to ensure that he received the proper amount of painkillers and muscle relaxants, he was laying atop a small bed with an intravenous tube connected to a bracelet-like device on his right arm. This was something that was always to be praised about when repairing the maimed body of a person.

As Shinji opened his eyes and found himself in the room that, while sharing some similarity to the paramilitary agency that NERV was, seemed less militaristic, more associated toward medical themes, with a lighter tone in the colors and lighting.

"Shinji Ikari?" The man in front of him, looking in his early-thirties, spoke up. "Can you hear me?"

Shinji nodded that he could hear him, and then looked at the IV tube connected to his arm. He tried raising it up, but it felt heavier than usual.

"I feel heavy," he spoke up to the man.

"Sorry about that. It's a side-effect of your extensive recovery."

"My extensive recovery? What happened?"

"You see, you were in surgery for over a day and have spent several hours in a medical-induced coma to aid in your recovery period. You were in an incident."

But Shinji didn't understand what was going on. Aside from the heaviness in his right arm and both legs, he felt fine. He remembered getting into the Eva, being almost drowned in some strange, foul-smelling liquid, and then…nothing else…but a feeling of detachment. Deciding that he needed to get onto his feet and flex his muscles, he slowly got up and stepped onto the cold floor.

"Huh?" He reacted to the minor sensation he experienced touching the floor, and then he reached for the IV tube with his left hand, originally intending to remove the bracelet-like device, but only managed to remove the tubing. "Doctor, what kind of bracelet is this on my arm?"

"It's a medical bracelet. It monitors your vitals, keeping you informed of your health."

Shinji then took a step forward with his left foot, but it felt off, like he'd been asleep for a longer time than he realized. He raised his right arm up in front of him, moved the fingers a little…and then looked at the doctor.

"I can't feel my fingers moving," he told him, "or my toes."

"Shinji, if you'll sit down, I can explain further," the doctor uttered, just as Shinji approached him.

"What happened to me?" Shinji asked, feeling like he was about to lose his temper. "What did you do to me?!"

"Shinji, please, we can explain…" But he couldn't say another as Shinji grabbed him by his neck with left arm, lifting him two feet off the floor…and threw him aside. "Shinji…"

Shinji then slowly moved toward the door that led into the room and entered the hallway.

"Shinji Ikari, please, remain where you are," a female voice spoke out in the hall, through the P.A. system speakers.

But Shinji panicked. He ran down the hall, everything becoming a blur to him. Something seemed wrong. What had happened to him? How injured was he and where was he?

"Shinji," the voice spoke up again, "please, stay where you are."

-x-

"…What happened?" Masamune Kusangi asked the security staff in their surveillance room.

"The boy woke up and had a panic attack," one of the women explained. "His bracelet showed a massive adrenaline rush when he assaulted the doctor that was with him."

"He's freaked," Masamune expressed, understanding the plight the boy felt he was under. "Is the emergency sedative in his bracelet?"

"Yes, sir," went a man to him.

"Okay, stop him before he hurts himself."

The man entered the proper command codes to Shinji's medical bracelet, and hit the "Y" key on his console board.

-x-

Running down the long hall toward an elevator, Shinji's first, rational thought of action was simply to get away from here. He thought he was almost home-free until he felt something pierce his skin under his right arm. Then, he felt drowsy, with his eyelids getting heavy. In less than ten seconds, he slowed down and fell against the elevator door. Fortunately, he had slowed down enough to do so without causing harm to himself or the doors.

-x-

"Explain yourself, Fuyutsuki," went Gendo to the Sub-Commander, who had returned to the Geo-Front shortly after leaving the Medical Angel Tokyo-3 branch.

"I don't have to explain myself, Ikari," he responded to the commander.

"You forged my signature on the Medical Angel consent form and had the Third Child transferred to their Tokyo-3 branch where he was converted by their medical practices," Gendo told him, infuriated by the elder's decision. "This was a criminal act against NERV. Again, explain yourself."

Fuyutsuki looked at Gendo with a cold stare that had more emotion than he would ever express and uttered, "I did…only what I had to in order to save a life. He would've died were if not for Medical Angel's advancements in cybernetics and biotechnology. I don't regret my decision in forging your signature on the consent form, Ikari. Was NERV simply to turn a blind eye on a young man that was injured in conflict? Plus, you knew perfectly well that we couldn't do a thing for him."

Excluding the NERV commander, Misato and Ritsuko, whom were also present in the office where Fuyutsuki was being questioned for his actions, were divided between the outcome of this revelation. While Misato was relieved that Shinji was getting the help he needed, Ritsuko had to take into consideration that an altered human being might've been incompatible with the Eva now, depending on how much of the pilot's body was no longer natural or original, since there have not been any tests to confirm acceptability between the biomechanical behemoth and a bionically-enhanced subject. Put quite simply, NERV's purple-haired, tactical strategist was just grateful that the boy had been saved from the ultimate fate while NERV's faux-blond was just wondering if the boy could still be used as a pilot against the Angels that have yet to appear, despite having already suffered enough.

"You probably would've took too long in making your decision, if you didn't have your mind made up already, on whether to save him or not," Fuyutsuki gave his opinion of Gendo's decision-making skills, which made the commander angrier at the elder man.

-x-

"Shinji?" Masamune spoke to the boy as he awoke from his drug-induced nap and found himself back in the room he had been in earlier. "How are you feeling?"

Shinji looked at him and then turned away, feeling the restraints on his arms and legs, probably to prevent a repeat of what had happened earlier. He also felt like he was a prisoner here, wherever "here" was, exactly.

"I apologize for however you felt a while back," Masamune expressed his sympathy toward the boy. "It was probably scary for you, not knowing what was going on. Believe me when I say that we were going to explain everything that happened to you once you had gotten more used to your restored state. Do you…remember anything about how you got hurt?"

Shinji sighed and responded, "I don't remember much of anything…except nearly being drowned, facing a monster…and then a blinding light. Everything else is nothing but a blur."

"I guess that's to be expected. You were hurt badly, so there might be some short-term memory loss for a while."

"How hurt was I? I mean, I look fine."

"Are you sure you're up to knowing the extent of your injuries that had to be mended?"

Shinji sighed and responded, "Please…tell me."

Masamune then sat down in the chair that had been brought in with him and began to explain to the boy the extent and severity of his injuries that had been treated. He was hoping that Shinji was better at comprehending than he was at listening.

"The…monster you faced self-destructed," he revealed, "and that's how you were maimed. Something went wrong with the monster NERV had created, and it didn't do well in protecting you. You suffered serious burns to the majority of your body, lost your right arm and both legs, had some organ damage and severe head trauma. It was almost a day later that you were brought here after NERV was informed of the severity of your injuries and then you underwent surgery to save your life."

Shinji looked at his restrained right arm and tried to feel some sort of sensation in the fingers…but didn't feel anything.

"If you feel you can avoid a repeat of what happened earlier, I can release your restraints," Masamune told him.

"Sure," he told him, and the elder got back up and undid his restraints.

As promised, Shinji didn't assault the elder as he got up to a sitting a position. He then set his feet onto the floor and stood up again. Then, he lifted up his right arm and couldn't feel anything in it.

"Why can't I feel anything in these limbs?" He asked him.

"You haven't gone through the proper rehabilitation channels yet, so you can't feel anything in your new limbs," Masamune explained. "Once you've been rehabilitated, you'll be able to feel like before."

Shinji then walked over to a nearby wall that had a mirror and examined himself. He looked like he'd been cleansed of the filth he had gotten after arriving to the city, but then he saw things popping up around his reflection. They were a bunch of word balloons and mathematical equations, and then he saw his reflection show the insides of his body, revealing the extent of how much of him had been replaced with bionic substitutes.

"Oh, God," he gasped, seeing the holographic display of his head, showing that his skull and brain had been altered like the rest of him. "Oh, God. Oh, God, there's almost nothing left!"

Masamune stepped beside the mirror, which revealed he had a replacement left leg and right arm, along with a bionic left eye.

"I'm sorry," he apologized to the boy.

Shinji looked at his reflection's display of his brain, revealing that there was some matter missing from it that had been replaced by matter that looked like it was being built from the surrounding brain matter itself, like something he'd seen out of an old film that was just a few years old.

"What is that in my brain?" He asked the elder.

"Nanites," he explained. "Tiny robots designed to slowly rebuild damaged organs and muscles. They're regenerating the damage done to your brain, but your memories and emotions aren't being tampered with, Shinji. You're still you. You're still in control."

Turning away from the mirror to spare himself further trauma and disgust, Shinji looked at the elder and said, "I don't ever want to see myself like that again. Ever. The same goes for anyone else that has seen me like that."

Masamune nodded in agreement over his request to never let anyone see or know how much of him was no longer original.

"Has…my father been around to see me?" Shinji asked him.

"I'm sorry, but no, he hasn't," he answered.

"I didn't expect him to. He never tries to see me. Probably too busy to even try."

"Being busy does not excuse anyone from not seeing someone else. You have had at least one visitor here to see you while you were in surgery. A Kozo Fuyutsuki. He's actually the one responsible for you being alive right now."

"I'm sorry, but I don't know who he is."

"He's an older gentleman…that works for your father."

"Oh."

"I'll be honest, but when you got hurt, Fuyutsuki-San was one of the only people truly concerned about your well-being. He went to extremes to get you the proper medical aid."

"How'd he do that?"

"He forged your father's signature on a consent form that he was given. There was the fear that your father wouldn't consent to have you undergo treatment. Fuyutsuki-San tried contacting your other relatives…but…"

Shinji sighed in disbelief and uttered, "I was never really accepted by my aunt and uncle. I've been looked down upon, shunned and rejected by a lot of people, just because of who my parents are. Whenever someone asks who Shinji Ikari's mother and father are, the arrival of contempt and disgust are soon to follow."

"That's terrible. That's like blaming the little brother or sister for a crime committed by the elder sibling, and they either had nothing to do with it, it occurred long ago, or they weren't around when it happened," Masamune expressed his own contempt for what he had just discovered about the Ikari family from Shinji's perspective.

"My father sends for me to come see him, and I don't even know why until after I see him. Then, seconds after I see him for the first time in over three years, he tells me to fight a creature I know nothing about, except that NERV called it an Angel, and I find out that he doesn't even bat an eyelash and probably doesn't lose an ounce of sleep at my suffering. I mean, does he hate me that much? What did I ever do to him, huh?"

That's something Masamune wanted to know himself. It reminded him of his own childhood…and his strained relationship with his own father. How could any man, especially one that's a parent, spend very little to absolutely no time with their children, whom were their highest priority in life, with their jobs being secondary concerns.

"I guess we're alike in that respect," he told Shinji. "I never got along with my old man."

"Why?" He asked him.

"I had faced him about that question one time…and his answer was as cold as he was…and still is. He viewed me as pathetic and that my brother, Muramasa, was the better son. That was the worst answer any parent could give their child. I was crushed. I wanted to kill myself after that, but I got saved."

"Go on."

"My mother encouraged me to move on. She became my anchor. I ended up doing better than my brother, whom my father still saw potential in, despite him being the very definition of a failure."

"What does Muramasa do for a living?"

"He's serving a sentence of twenty-five years for second-degree murder. Where I do good with my life, he does the very opposite. Drugs, gambling, running guns, fraud. It's almost totally ridiculous that we're twins, but I'm the responsible elder and he's the disgraceful youngster."

"I wouldn't know, not having any brothers or sisters."

"It wouldn't change anything, even if you were an only child. Some parents will tend to favor children that aren't theirs instead of their own for various reason, regardless of whether they're right or wrong."

-x-

Misato found that doing a favor for Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki was almost as unusual as the penalty Gendo gave the elder for getting his son help. But she was interested in seeing the boy for herself to see how well his recovery was progressing after hearing what she had about Medical Angel. Just because he was unable to undo the matter involving the forged signature and have his son returned to NERV, Gendo had Fuyutsuki thrown into a holding cell until he decided to let him out. Somehow, Misato just couldn't see any legality in what was done to the elder. Still, being asked to see Shinji for him was seen as a good excuse to get out of the Geo-Front and see him at this medical company's Tokyo-3 branch.

She had done some background check on Medical Angel and found they've been around since the aftermath of Second Impact, advancing the research on medical science, even creating a new skin formula that could be used to on people with severe burns or skin cancer. The only downside to such a medical company was how they had a strict policy against weaponizing anything they created and a, rather, stubborn refusal to attempt any military applications.

_A medical company that doesn't want to get its hands dirty with military applications,_ she thought, pulling up to the main building that acted as their Tokyo-3 branch. _I wouldn't believe until I've seen it._

She entered the front of the building as soon as she parked her car and asked around for whoever was there to be spoken with.

"Hello?" She called to the front desk.

"Yes, may I help you?" A woman at the desk responded.

"My name is Misato Katsuragi, and I'm here to see Shinji Ikari in place of Kozo Fuyutsuki."

"Wait one moment, please," the woman said, and then picked up a phone and dialed a number.

She looked at the display cases in the lobby and saw various replicas of prosthetic limbs that were probably outdated or recently fabricated to show people that these were what certain amputees came to possess after a tragedy befell them. They were almost like something out of the _Terminator _series, only more invested in the study of human anatomy.

"Okay, Ms. Katsuragi, you may go up to see Mr. Ikari," the woman told her.

-x-

The rehabilitation ward of Medical Angel's Tokyo-3 branch seemed about the size of the city's only secondary school building, but with more space for the people to stretch their limbs, both natural and prosthetic. There were men and women in various stages of recreation, even assisted by physicians on how to adjust to their new limbs, whether they were running on tracks, climbing up and down ropes, handling objects that they once handled without needing to be careful much of the time, or just learning how to shake hands with an prosthetic one.

"…I'm afraid I'll break it with these," Misato heard a woman say to a physicist, concerned about breaking a guitar with her prosthetic arms.

"You won't know for sure until you try," the female doctor responded kindly, encouraging her patient to try and play a tune with the new arms.

"…I can almost feel like I used to with my new leg," she heard a man say to another doctor, commenting about his right leg.

"…hey, who's the babe with the red coat?" Misato heard some of the recovering amputees question about her as she walked past them on her way to the swimming pool area.

The pool itself was the size of those Olympic pools, with a few amputees exercising in it to maintain their health.

"You must be Ms. Katsuragi," she turned to face an elderly man, older than the Sub-Commander was.

"Yes, I am," she responded. "And you are?"

"Masamune Kusangi," he introduced himself. "I'm the one in charge of rehabilitating Mr. Ikari."

"Rehabilitating him? Didn't he just get out of surgery?"

"You'd be amazed at how fast people tend to recover after being in places like this. Come this way."

She followed him to the other side of the pool where Shinji currently was, relaxing with his new legs in the water. He looked like he was very calm for someone that nearly died just a few days ago.

"Shinji, you have another visitor," Masamune informed him, and he looked up at Misato.

"Oh. Hello again," he greeted her, and then turned back to look at his feet in the water.

"Hello," she greeted back. "How are you doing?"

"I'm starting to get some feeling in my legs like before."

She almost didn't recognize him without the bandages or his regenerated face and hair. The boy looked unchanged by the violence he experienced within the Evangelion. Of course, that could've changed if she ever brought up a different part of the other reason she came to see him.

"I was told Mr. Fuyutsuki made it so that I got help while I was here," she heard him say, "that he forged my… That he forged that man's signature because he feared he wouldn't do so. It's really cruel that anyone would hesitate or choose not to get their kid medical aid that would save them. I almost wanted to die after finding this all out."

Misato then faced Masamune and wanted to speak to him in private.

-x-

"…He seems to be recovering well," Misato told Masamune in the privacy of the elder's office.

"Yes, he's making good progress," the elder responded, "however, he has some memory impairment as a result of the damage that was done to his brain."

"Memory impairment?"

"You see, he has short-term memory loss because of what he went through. Bits of what happened to him are a mystery to him, for he cannot remember the event in its entirety."

"Is it…permanent?"

"It could be. Only time will tell until his brain has been healed by the nanites in his skull. Though, I take it that you're not just here to make a social call, so you can say the rest of the reason to why you're here, Ms. Katsuragi."

Misato sighed and expressed, "His father wishes to know how long his recovery would be before…he'd be back on active duty for NERV."

Masamune had a slight frown after he heard that.

"Would this have anything to do with that thing your agency made that got trashed by the monster that turned itself into a living bomb and took out a portion of the city?" He asked her.

"I'm afraid that's classified," she told him.

"That's bull, ma'am. I was out looking at the city when that thing showed up. I saw the monster your agency unleashed upon it. I was horrified at first, but only at first. Then it self-destructed and reduced parts of the city to ruins that might take months to rebuild, leaving several people homeless for the time being. It disgusts me more to know that Mr. Ikari was one of the casualties of what happened that day, and how he almost lost his life because of a rather careless move made on his relatives' part. Now, he is in recovery, but he can't do anything strenuous for at least two months. Standard Medical Angel rehabilitation protocol for amputees. As for the preferred protocol for those recovering from severe head trauma, they're to refrain for anything that might hinder their mental regeneration or cause further injury to their brains. There were at least seventeen incidents three years ago from the other branches across the planet where people responsible for the recovering amputees after they were released to go home refused to follow the instructions they were given. The recovering amputees experienced temporary insanity and emotional instability…and one of the women came close to murdering their sister in a psychotic rage along with two police officers…all because her mother tried to use alcohol on her brain. We're taking harder measures to ensure that there are no more of these incidents, and Shinji's recovery, both physical and mental, is no exception."

"Very well, then," Misato decided to be discreet and understanding with the elder. "The monster that self-destructed was called an Angel, and NERV has reason to believe that there are more of them out there. Shinji was discovered to be the Third Child, in accordance with the Marduk Institute charged with finding children like him, capable of piloting Evangelions to defeat the Angels."

"And when you say that he's the Third Child, I assume that there are two others?"

"That's right."

"Why didn't NERV have them face the…Angel? Surely, they would've been trained to deal with such a threat. Shinji seems to have no experience, whatsoever, in fighting anything or anyone."

"NERV was unprepared at the time."

"I'm sorry, Ms. Katsuragi, but are you trying to convince me of a half-truth?"

"Sorry. NERV only had one of the other two children at the time, but she was injured in a training incident…and injured further trying to face the Angel when it arrived earlier that day. The Second Child is still in Germany, so she was unavailable. We had to take a risk with Shinji."

"Seems like it was a serious risk that almost didn't pan out for NERV. I'd say you got off lucky, but as much as I want to believe in luck, people that survive unscathed are not lucky. People like Shinji, who manage to live to see another day after losing some part of themselves and getting replaced with a prosthetic to give back a semblance of normality, they're the ones with the luck…because they deserve more than what they were given over the years…or they deserve more than what they didn't receive over the years."

"I believe you. Not many people appreciate what they have…until they don't have it, anymore. But what choice does anyone at NERV have? Only people born after Second Impact can face the Angels."

"I won't lie to you when I say I have high concerns about Shinji, especially after hearing of his family situation…and then researching the accuracy of its severity: An absentee father with a rather troublesome history, a deceased mother as a result of a science-related accident, an aunt and uncle that don't even bother to call and see if he arrived to the city to see his father and a cousin that gets away with harassing him every chance he gets while Shinji gets disciplined just for raising his voice. I'm even concern that he might be repressing a lot of rage that his relatives are responsible for. And even if he could help NERV face more Angels, as you call them, even if NERV wanted him to, the real question…is should he do so after what he went through with facing just once? Because even once can be too much for any one person."

Misato found herself unable to answer the question. She couldn't even bring herself to try. It was likely that the commander wouldn't hesitate to send his son out into battle against the next Angel, but after having started his rehab, there was a chance that Shinji would've refused…and most likely suffer from the same degree of psychosis as Medical Angel's previous patients had over the years from poor mistreatment from their relatives. And she had to agree with Masamune's concern, because even doing something dangerous just once was often too much.

"Maybe…this is something that should be taken up with his father," she suggested.

"That…would be the most logical choice," he agreed with her.

-x-

Despite Japan being one of the few nations on the planet with a lack of space for its people, Shinji found the Medical Angel's rehab ward's living quarters to be quite spacious for the people recovering from surgery and adjusting to their new limbs. His own quarters were bigger than the room he was shacked in when he was living with his aunt and uncle, though with just the basic furniture: Bed, table, chair, etc. The two bags he had with him when he arrived to the Geo-Front were on the table, so he decided to examine the contents. Excluding old school papers, all of which seemed useless due to being graded poorly, all he really had were a few articles of clothing and a book he found while by himself at a library that was being thrown out.

Picking up the book with his new right arm, he decided to read the book as he sat at the table. As he turned to the first page, he felt the slightest degree of sensation in his fingers from his right hand.

-x-

"…So, he's currently being rehabilitated while there," went Misato to Gendo, informing him of the progress Shinji was making at Medical Angel.

"And Medical Angel advised him not to engage in anything strenuous until after he has recovered?" Ritsuko, who was present in the commander's office, asked her, making sure she understood everything her friend was explaining.

"That's right. For two months. He's also not to do anything that endanger his mental recovery. He has short-term memory loss, so he doesn't remember what happened in the battle with the Angel in its entirety, just bits."

"But what we should know is if his conversion could, if at all, hinder his ability to sync with the Eva."

"We would have to take it up with Medical Angel, 'cause they've had several incidents in which some of their recovering patients suffered from psychosis because certain instructions weren't followed by the relatives they were released to."

"And they gave no release date on the Third Child?" Gendo asked Misato.

"He can be released in two weeks, depending on whether or not he has anyone to come and get him," she explained; Masamune had expressed a disbelief in any of Shinji's relatives caring enough to come and get him if they didn't even bother with something as simple as signing a consent form to save him.

-x-

Even though this was only because Gendo was infuriated that a degree of control over his son was taken from him, Fuyutsuki didn't regret any of his actions regarding the welfare of Shinji. So being locked in a detention cell was a small price to pay for saving a small life that the Ikaris seemed to disregard completely. The last time he ever fell asleep, the elder had another dream that seemed to revisit the one had previously, with the little girl that seemed to regard Shinji as someone that mattered a lot, despite the opinions of others.

"_You saved his life," _she had told him. _"Thank you."_

He had the strangest feeling that he had met this girl in at least another life.

To be continued…

A/N: Here's the second chapter. How do you like it?


	3. Familiar Faces

Creation began on 07-05-14

Creation ended on 10-01-14

Neon Genesis Evangelion

The Horrid Aftermath: Familiar Faces

Masamune sighed as he slumped in his chair at his desk, staring at the monitor of his computer. He had just researched the Ikari family tree and found that the majority of Shinji's relations were either deceased…or just uncaring bastards that disregarded the welfare of a boy that nearly died over some circumstances that most didn't know about or even understand. It was like the universe was saying for people like the boy, "Sorry, but you drew the short stick in the bin of fortunes, and we won't change it so that you can smile without pain." There wasn't even much information on the mother herself, not even a picture of what she looked like before she died.

_Is there nobody of this family that could look after him in place of the ones that looked down upon him?_ He wondered, and then realized something he had overlooked himself. I wonder…

He typed a different search engine on the medical and court records, hoping for a sign of good fortune…and might've found something beneficial.

"Okugata Neko Rokubungi," he read on the screen; he had only searched the maternal side of Shinji's family tree, but had overlooked the paternal side, as his father had married into the Ikari family, whose immediate, biological line of women consisted of only three daughters, one of which was deceased.

As he delved further, he found at least four members of this family that were still alive, as Okugata Rokubungi had passed away almost a year ago, but was survived by her three daughters, two sons and an in-law. He found that Gendo was the woman's grandson, making Shinji her great-grandson, so she had to be over seventy, at least, when she passed away.

_And it looks like they live close by,_ he discovered, and picked up his phone to dial the number of where they lived. _Hopefully, they'll at least consider hearing of him._

The phone ringed for almost a minute before someone picked up.

"Rokugungi residence," a lady's voice greeted. "This is Kiki speaking."

"Kiki Rokubungi?" He asked.

"Yes."

"As in the eldest daughter of Okugata Rokubungi?"

"Yes."

"My name is Masamune Kusangi of Medical Angel, and I was wondering if you had a relative by the name of Gendo Rokubungi-Ikari."

"Yes, but we haven't had any contact with him in years. Why are you asking?"

-x-

Building one's strength was also good in the rehabilitation process for those recovering from surgery with bionic appendages, as Shinji soon found himself doing sit-ups. He had never aspired to any career or profession, which included any ideas of being an athlete or gymnast. Even with the temporary adrenaline rush that enabled him to lift up the previous doctor and throw his aside as he ran out the room, he never thought of anything short of just trying to escape potential imprisonment and experimentation after finding a loss of sensation in three of his limbs.

"_Cowards are always useless when mankind's future is at stake,"_ he remembered his father saying at him, which just hurt more than any sticks or stones.

As far as the memories he had of his father went, there wasn't a single day, hour or moment where Gendo had ever said a kind word or given him any sort of praise. It was like the man viewed his son as a complete stranger and made no attempt to talk to him or spend time with him. Was he that much of a bother to him? It was probably why he never even thought about getting the medical aid he needed just to stand on his own legs again.

While he would be forever grateful to Kozo Fuyutsuki for getting him help, he did wish that he had somebody (maybe not his father, who was a complete lost cause) that took an interest in getting to know him that wasn't as much of a stranger as his old man had been for years.

He was then reminded of that dream he had prior to waking up to his bionic state, where he was in a town built around a mountain…and he was in the company of this little girl that liked him a lot more than a little girl could like an older boy. The only thing he regretted from meeting her…was never getting her name, even if she was just a dream that was surreal. Her face, her eyes, even her voice brought some strange form of relief to his mind.

_People would probably think me crazy for thinking about a dream where I met someone that liked me, _he thought, laying on his back and staring up at the ceiling of his quarters. _But they've probably never had anybody that wanted to know them or be with them before._

-x-

"…We were lucky," went Ritsuko to Gendo, showing him a holographic display of a human nervous system. "NERV was able get a copy of the Third Child's brain scans from Medical Angel. Mild damage done to his brain in the Angel's explosion, along with the extensive repairs through nanotechnology to the missing areas of cerebral matter, may hinder the possibility of synchronization between himself and the Eva. Additional scans show that he does suffer from some memory loss due to the damage done to his brain, but not enough to hinder his recollection of his identity and cognitive functions. All of this, along with much of his body being replaced and converted, may make him unsuitable as a pilot without further evaluation and testing."

"But due to Medical Angel's staunch decisions on how people that they remodel with their practices should recover, we can't touch him until he's been rehabilitated," Gendo sighed. "Has there been any attempt on NERV's part to acquire him from that medical branch?"

"No, there hasn't. There was, however, a phone call made between the branch and a town region located in the Chubu Prefecture. Does the name Kiki Rokubungi mean anything to you?"

For the first time since his son showed up and piloted the Eva, Gendo separated his hands from their crossed position in front of his face…and slammed them on his desk.

-x-

"…Shinji," he heard a voice call out to him, as he found himself in a lonely setting. "Shinji…where are you?"

In a city, one he'd only seen a glimpse of, devoid of people, the young child of a changed Earth, one on the brink of death, walked down a street in search of someone. Someone, never something. And as he searched down the road, realization hit him in two ways: He was dreaming again…and he was looking for a girl.

"Hello?" He called out to her.

"I'm right here," the girl responded, and he turned to the right around the corner and saw the girl from his previous dream sitting atop a rusty car. "I missed you."

It was the first time in his life, even if it was only a dream, where he heard someone say that they missed him.

"I missed you, too," he told her.

"Rumi," she said.

"Huh?"

"That's my name. It's Rumi. At least…in another lifetime where we're together."

"Rumi… That's a pretty name."

"Thank you."

The girl got off the car and walked with him down the street. Her presence made Shinji forget about what he had gone through in the Eva, his revelation of being converted into a cyborg or amputee (the latter of which didn't seem appropriate, due to more than half of his body being replaced with cybernetics), and his nonexistent relationship with his mother's relatives that he was positive he wouldn't see, ever again.

"You once told me that I would have to be a reluctant hero," he said to her. "Is that true?"

"Yeah," she sighed, disliking the fact that his reaction to hearing this truth was unnerving to him. "But I'm not lying when I say that you will find people in your life that will care about your welfare."

"How can I find people that will care about me? I spent the last ten years of my life in the care of my aunt and uncle, and they hated me."

"Which side of the family tree were they from?"

"Huh? Why?"

"Shinji, people have more than one type of relative from whichever side of the family they're associated with. There's the maternal side, which is the side of the mother…and the paternal side, which is…"

"My father's side," he cut her off. "I lived with my mother's sister and her family. I don't know anything about my father's side."

"Then, for all you know, they might not know you exist."

"What if he has none alive?"

"There's always someone related to you, even across the vast distance of time and space. There are even those that might be interested in seeing you, even though they never met you before."

"I wish it were true."

Rumi led him out of the city and onto an open field carpeted with wildflowers.

"What am I like in your lifetime, Rumi?" He asked her.

"You're not as different in my lifetime as you are in this one," she explained. "You both possess a delicate soul that longs for the warmth of others that show concern for you. Genuine concern. You're not a violent individual, never seeking conflict and never wanting to hurt anyone, no matter how much they hurt you, making you a bit of a pacifist."

"Well, I hate violence. I couldn't live with myself if I had harmed somebody that didn't deserve it…or did deserve it, but was by my hands."

"Oh, you had some measure of hatred that compensated for the lack of violence in your soul. You once tried to kill yourself, but you were saved and convinced to keep living, even when it was away from from the people you were related to by blood."

"By blood?"

"Well, um, you were adopted…in a way. Your father was adopted by my mother, which made you her adopted grandson…and my nephew…whom I share a very close relationship with."

"Right and wrong are thicker than blood."

"With the family that took you in, my presence in your later years, right and wrong were a constant in the world. A family made of people that have no blood ties, but still love each other and want to be together, that's right. Relatives that do whatever it takes to have their way, no matter who gets harmed by them in the process, it's wrong. Real love? Right. Questioning one's relationship with someone that's viewed as a relative?"

"There are always factors involved in questionable relationships with relatives."

Rumi sighed and expressed, "Romantic relationships with adopted relatives isn't incest, Shinji, despite the artificial ties that bind better than the natural ones. The you involved in my life, while looking at a greater life now that he's buried his ghosts of the past in the past, is older than I am, it could never be viewed as incestuous. It would just be seen as acceptable cradle robbing."

"I don't understand that concept."

"An older person having affections that go beyond being friendly for a younger person and vice versa. An example being a twelve-year-old girl being involved, romantically, with a man that was twenty-two years old. Everyone does it every now and then, it's not a constant crime or anything. It's…just something that happens."

"Do people…accept us like that?" He asked her.

"They do. Sometimes, I get asked about how it was for a girl like me to end up with a young man like you, and as tiresome as I find it to get asked the same questions every chance a person gets, I wouldn't want what I have with you to end. I am sure, however, that you will find someone for yourself in your life that will want to be with you, that doesn't want to hurt you or see you get hurt." She told him.

"If I ever meet a girl like that, I wouldn't mind it if she were a lot like you."

"In most lifetimes, the person you end up with isn't the same as the person you're with in other lifetimes. But there have been times where similar people from one lifetime will end up together in another lifetime."

Rumi then did a cartwheel on the ground in front of Shinji.

-x-

It had been an interesting conversation over the phone with Kiki Rokubungi for Masamune. The elder sister was made the legal guardian of the youngest daughter and her brothers and sister-in-law came home shortly after Okugata had passed away. She had been informed of the existence of Shinji and, unlike Gendo and the boy's maternal relatives, requested to see him, as she nor the others had heard of him. It was no doubt because Gendo himself hadn't desired for his son to know he had other relatives beyond the ones he was left with at an early age.

"_We'll be by as soon as we can,"_ she told Masamune, and that was that.

_This might help Shinji adjust to his recent change better,_ he thought, now evaluating the data that was collected from the last examination the boy had gone through.

-x-

_"…Why are you asking?"_ Kiki Rokubungi's voice went over the recording between herself as Masamune in front of Gendo and Ritsuko in the office.

"_Are you aware of the fact that he has a son by the name of Shinji?"_ Masamune had asked her.

"_Sorry, but no, I didn't know that."_

"_Well, he was recently in an accident and required medical attention that needed the consent of a parent or guardian, but neither his father or the people from his mother's family would give consent, so his father's signature was forged by someone that worked for him. The reason I'm calling is that Shinji seems to need some sort of extended family support structure in his rehabilitation, but doesn't have anyone in his either his immediate family or nearest relatives that seem to show any interest in getting to know him at all."_

"_Just how bad was he hurt?"_

"_You probably wouldn't have been able to recognize him if he'd been left alone. He had lost an arm and both legs before he received special surgery to restore his mobility and mend what was left of him."_

"_So…basically, he doesn't even know we exist?"_

"_That's right. Would you be interested in seeing him?"_

"_More than interested, Mr. Kusanagi."_

Gendo stopped the recording and frowned at what he discovered. It had been over twenty years since he left home and vowed never to return. He didn't want anything further to do with the family his mother had grown up in. Before he even left, his grandmother had given him a sword that was both his gift and his penance for his disgraceful behavior towards her. And now, he found that his aunt had taken an interest in seeing his son, whom he didn't want to develop a support system from anyone, as it would hinder his manipulation of him in the future.

But he had very little say in the matter, as NERV and Medical Angel were outside of one another's jurisdiction, so he couldn't very well order that company to stay out of his family business if he himself had no direct involvement, whatsoever, in his son's rehab. However, he had enough authority to monitor his son's whereabouts.

-x-

"…What are you thinking?" Kiki asked an elderly man sitting across from her on the train to Tokyo-2, seeing that he was tense about something.

"Fourteen years old," he told her, "and we didn't know about him until yesterday."

"Well, it's not exactly Father Knows Best. Gendo did say he swore never to have kids of his own, but he ends up having one after a disaster, and he doesn't have a conscious to do right by him."

"What of her?" He pointed to a little girl being watched over by a large wolf that seemed fierce, yet quite docile to be around children.

The girl, with long, ebony hair tied in a braid, looking out the window at the countryside, turned to face them…and then back to the world outside the train.

"I hope that she at least says two words to him," Kiki told him. "Her daycare's attendant called me again about her."

"If you keep talking about how people give suggestions or even bad opinions about her, you might end up needing to see a therapist beyond the one you see twice a month," the elder man told her.

"Where do you think we might be forced to send her…if she doesn't start talking again?" She countered him with that important question.

The elder found that he couldn't come up with a response.

-x-

The battle-damaged Unit-01 was a horrific sight indeed. Even when the cleanup crew brought it back to the Geo-Front, the behemoth seemed so fragile that moving it caused further damage, as it was when its legs fell off from whatever was left holding them to the rest of the Eva. But the repairs were continuing at an even pace, as it had been submersed into a large room filled with a regenerative solution to sanitize and accelerate the recovery of the Eva's organic portions.

Truth be told, Gendo valued this Eva more than anything and anyone else in the world, past, present and future. He would've sacrificed all that was in existence for its preservation to achieve his own goals, and he wouldn't let anyone get in his way.

_This is only a minor setback, _he thought, watching from a viewing window as Unit-01's unarmored right arm began to recover more than eight percent of her lost and damaged tissues. _But by the time the next Angel arrives, you'll be ready._

-x-

"…Mister Kusanagi?" Masamune heard a male voice over the intercom of his phone in his office. "There's a Ms. Kiki Rokubungi here."

Setting his pen down onto several papers, he pressed a button on the phone and responded, "I shall be down shortly."

He got up and left to the lobby of the building to meet the family he hoped would aid in Shinji's recovery and adjustment. When he got there, he was greeted by the sight of the woman, accompanied by an elder man and a little girl with a wolf.

The woman was probably in her early-fifties, but still quite attractive, with her red hair tied in ox horn buns and dressed in a green and blue hanbok.

The man looked older, probably in his late-fifties to early-sixties, requiring a cane to stay mobile on his feet, with graying hair, wrinkled skin, and dressed in a business suit.

But what caught Masamune's attention the most was the little girl. She had to be below the age of ten, but quite eligible for a beauty pageantry with her looks, like she was some sort of goddess incarnate, dressed in a blue shirt and wearing a black skort.

The woman in the hanbok, Kiki, greeted him and shook his hand.

"It's an honor to meet you," she told him.

"Thank you for coming such a long way," he responded.

"When you had mentioned the fact that we had an unknown relative from an estranged one, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to meet them."

Masamune then looked down at the little girl and noticed how detached she seemed, like she had lost some part of herself sometime ago.

"I'm sorry, but is there something wrong with her?" He questioned.

"It's complicated," Kiki answered.

"Well, then, I'll take you to him."

-x-

Cough! Shinji coughed out the last of the chlorinated water from the pool in front of his instructor's feet.

"Sorry about that," she apologized to him, now accepting that he couldn't swim worth a gold or silver coin, even if you had a bunch of them.

When he was done puking, he got back up and looked at her like he was about to throw her into the pool when he just walked past her and sat in a nearby chair.

"Are swimming lessons really necessary for my rehab?" He asked her. "I haven't swam in years."

"Yes, they are," she answered him. "Your new limbs might be, somewhat, like the ones you lost, but they still need to be broken in and adjusted by you. Running and climbing will only get you so far, and swimming has actually helped many of us with artificial limbs to adjust to the changes we've gone through. Some of the amputees nearly drowned in water because they didn't take swimming lessons to help correct the lightweight metals used in their new appendages. Some of us lucky enough to actually float to the surface of water."

Shinji looked at his legs, sometimes unable to believe that they were now artificial instead of natural, and couldn't believe that if he didn't take every precaution when in a different environment, he could pay a much higher price than what he had already paid because he wanted his father to accept him.

"I'll tell you what," his instructor suggested. "Take an hour to recoup and then we'll try again. Okay?"

"Thank you," he responded and got up and walked away.

Walking across the rehabilitation grounds back to his room, he stopped in front of Masamune.

"How are you doing?" The elder asked him.

"I've had better days when I wasn't relearning how to swim," he responded.

"Maybe seeing some new faces will do you some good."

"New faces?"

"Well, yes. It came to my attention that you don't have a family support system, whatsoever."

"It's not that easy to lack a support system of any kind when you're around those that want nothing to do with you."

"You probably wouldn't believe that if you met relatives you didn't know you had. After looking into the maternal side of your family tree, I got the idea to look into your father's side, and found that he's not liked very well by most of his relatives. Him, for they haven't heard about you until after I had spoken with one of them. They're actually looking forward to seeing you."

"But what am I supposed to say to them?"

"Just be yourself. Talk about whatever you want."

They stopped in front of the door to his room and Masamune stepped inside first.

"Here he is," he said to whoever was inside, and then Shinji stepped inside.

Shinji was quite surprised. In front of him were two people he had recognized from his dreams, the woman on his right…and the little girl on his left accompanied by a wolf. This left him at a loss for the right words to greet them with.

The girl, having just met this boy for the first time, got up out of her seat and slowly approached him, never taking her eyes off his. Then…she hugged his legs.

"It's good to see you…Shinji," she uttered.

"The feeling's mutual," he responded.

-x-

"…I've been a friend of the family since their mother was alive," the aged man told Shinji, in response to a question said boy had asked him about his relation to the ladies. "My occupation as a doctor has made my association invaluable."

Kiki, still keeping her eyes on Shinji and her little sister, found said sister never letting go of said boy's hand that she found out was a prosthetic replacement. It had been unbelievable; her sister had been unsociable for months since their mother's passing, and after seeing Shinji, she spoke up again.

"So, um, what do you do, Kiki?" Shinji asked her.

"I work part-time at a dry goods store," she explained her profession, "and part-time at a museum."

"A dry goods store and a museum? You have two jobs?" He asked, confused.

"I have tenure…and a lack of direction. Science and politicians were never my interests."

Shinji chuckled and uttered, "They're not my interests, either. Although science saved my life, a part of it left me, for a while (looking at his natural arm)…unable to do anything. And as for politics, that's for control freaks."

"Control freaks are bad news," said the girl, softly stroking the artificial skin that covered his cybernetic limb, finding it no different from her own skin.

"So, Shinji, what are you going to do after you finish your rehab?" Kiki asked.

"I'm not sure what I'll do," he told her.

Knock-knock! Someone knocked at the door. And then they opened it, revealing themselves to be Masamune again.

"I apologize for my intrusion, but Shinji has an unannounced visitor from NERV," he explained his intrusion to them, and Shinji, wanting to get this unannounced visit over with so that he could get back to his conversation with his familial visitors, got up and stepped out of the room.

-x-

Ritsuko Akagi, under orders from Gendo, went to Medical Angel to see if Shinji would consider joining NERV and piloting the Eva again. While she was uncertain if the boy could still pilot with some of his brain missing, she would know for sure once he was back inside the plug.

The door to the room she was set in opened up and Masamune brought in Shinji, who seemed mildly irritated by having his time with his father's relatives hindered.

"Hello, Shinji," she greeted him. "I'm…"

Shinji raised his right hand up to silence her.

"I know who you are, Dr. Akagi," he cut her off. "It's not easy to forget someone that has faux-blond hair. Why are you here?"

_At least his recollection of me hasn't been undone,_ she thought, and got to the point of her presence here. "Your father asked me to come here to ask you an important question."

"What could be so important that he couldn't come here himself to ask me?" He asked her, though his tone made her see that his father was a very touchy subject.

"I'm sure you can see that he is a very busy man," she expressed. "Anyway, the reason I'm here is to ask you, for your father, is will you come back to work for NERV as an Evangelion pilot?"

"…_Will you come back to work for NERV as an Evangelion pilot?" _Her words echoed in his mind, just as his eyes widened at the question he was asked.

"_Have you no shame, Shinji?"_

"_Cowards are always useless when mankind's future's at stake."_

"_This is the last card our species has to play."_

Shinji then felt disoriented, backing up against the wall behind him and falling against a nearby wall-mounted counter.

"_Listen carefully to what I'm going to tell you, Shinji. You're going to ride in her. You're going to fight the Angel."_

Knocking over the pile of books on the counter, Shinji fell to the floor and his mouth started foaming.

"Oh, God!" Masamune panicked, and then hit an alarm button on the wall.

-x-

"Well, sis," went Kiki to the little girl, "what do you think of Shinji?"

"I think he's a lot like me," she answered her. "He has been hurt before…and is not a fan of pain, whether it's physical or emotional."

Suddenly, they heard an alarm go off, and they wondered what had happened.

"Will the closest medical team rush to the lobby?" A female voice went over the intercom. "Patient Shinji Ikari has collapsed."

"What?!" The little girl gasped.

-x-

He wasn't sure how he got there or why he was there, but Shinji was out on the street, running in the dead of the night from something behind him.

…_Gotta get away from here,_ he thought, his sweat getting in his eyes. _I gotta get away from here!_

Behind him, a large, humanoid creature was getting closer to him, with its arms outstretched and reaching out to grab him.

"…Shinji…Shinji…wake up!" A voice called out to him. "Wake up!"

The ground in front of him crumbled and he fell into a dark hole.

"Aaaaaauurgh!" He yelled.

GASP! He awoke, looking up at a white ceiling, with a heart monitor hooked up to him.

Calming down, he tried to get up out of the bed he was in, seeing the little girl he had seen in his dreams asleep in the chair beside him.

-x-

"…He suffered from a heart attack and had a seizure after you asked him if he would work for NERV," said Masamune to Ritsuko, in front of Kiki and Dr. Gyatso, the elder gentleman that had accompanied her.

"Could this have had anything to do with him being converted?" Ritsuko tried to defend her actions.

"No. He was doing fine in his rehabilitation. If his brain and heart had been reduced to hamburger and mashed potatoes, respectively, this would've been a similar case. But his heart was among the organs he had that were left intact, and he only lost a small portion of his brain that was just matter that's being regenerated by the nanites."

"Here's the medical theory that supports you being the cause of his attack," went a female doctor, evaluating Shinji's brain and heart tests. "Shortly after he was asked the question by you, his blood pressure became elevated, far higher than his heart could take, and his brain functions became stressed. He might've experienced something that contributed to the stress before his injuries, like a bad memory or a previous mishap."

"Asking him to work for his father stressed him out?" Ritsuko questioned.

"I wouldn't be surprised," Kiki expressed. "Gendo has always been a control freak."

"How long will he be like this?" Gyatso asked.

Knock-knock! Someone knocked at the door.

"Come in," Masamune uttered, and the door opened, revealing the little girl that liked Shinji.

"Shinji is awake," she told them, and gave the faux-blond woman a frown. "He wants to talk to Kiki and I."

-x-

_"You're going to fight the Angel,"_ Gendo's cold voice echoed in Shinji's mind.

"_I'm glad you're awake, Shinji," _the girl had told him, having awoken minutes after he had, expressing her joy in seeing him.

"Shinji?" He heard Kiki say his name, shaking him from his train of thought, making him see both her and the girl.

"I was told I had a seizure and a heart attack," he responded. "How long was I out?"

"Most of the day," she answered him. "Can you tell us what happened? I don't trust this Dr. Akagi to be an honest woman."

"She asked me if I would work for my father. It just brought up bad memories…and I felt like my head was about to explode."

"What would your answer have likely been?" The girl asked.

"I wanted to decline. There was nothing good between that man and I. He…he…"

"He hurt you?" She asked again.

"Yeah, he did."

"You're not the only one he's harmed before," Kiki said, reminded of a few of Gendo's mishaps…and the one thing he did wrong that resulted in his getting kicked out of the family.

"Shinji, where will you be going after you recover enough to leave?" The girl asked him.

Shinji sighed, unable to say for certain where he would go. There was no way he could go back to his maternal aunt and uncle's, as they made his life miserable. And there was no way he could live with his father, not after what happened.

"Well, you could come live with us at our house," she offered.

"Huh?" He responded.

"You should come live with us in the Guze-mura."

_Salvation Village?_ Shinji wondered, translating the name of the place they were from.

"Kiki, couldn't he come live with us?"

"If he wants to, he can," the woman responded. "He's more than welcome."

"But…you two don't even know me," Shinji told them.

"I want to get to know you," the girl expressed.

"Same here, and, surely, you'll find the other members of our family will want to know you, as well," Kiki added.

-x-

"…I was only asking him because Commander Ikari asked me to," Ritsuko defended her against Masamune.

"Then you should let him know that he indirectly caused Shinji to suffer a heart attack and a seizure when he had you ask him. He could've had a stroke or worse if his brain couldn't take the strain," Masamune informed her, and then handed her a disc that held the updated brain scans. "I won't deny my grave concerns for his health, and I won't deny that he should be looked at closer to ensure that he doesn't suffer a repeat of what happened today. I would advise you to also inform Mr. Ikari…that should he put any further stress or endanger Shinji's health… I will have him sued for child endangerment and neglect."

"You wouldn't get very far."

"Oh, yeah? Try me."

Ritsuko wasn't the type of woman to feel intimidated or threatened by a man like this that helped run a medical company and not a paramilitary agency charged with protecting mankind. But unlike NERV, Medical Angel was more accepted by the public than the paramilitary agency for their advanced medical techniques that made even veterans happy to be mobile. If it was between NERV and Medical Angel, the people were more inclined to side with a company that actually was a people company instead of a bunch of people that had a few giant cyborgs that required children to pilot them.

She sighed and picked up the disc from off his desk.

To be continued…

A/N: Here's the third chapter to this story. You'll have to make do with this until further notice. Peace.


End file.
